As members of the state athletic conference, school districts must uphold the conference's minimum academic standards for student athletes, but they are free to set the bar even higher if they choose.

Locally, only a few high schools have implemented more academically stringent standards for student athletes. In New London, school officials are in the process of developing a policy that would require student athletes with low grades to attend more study sessions.

East Lyme is one district that already goes beyond what the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference requires, Susan Fletcher, administrative assistant to the athletic director, said Tuesday.

Student athletes there are not allowed to get any F's on their quarterly report cards and must not have more than two D's. Students who don't meet this standard become ineligible to play sports until the next report card comes out. They still may practice with the team, Fletcher, but they cannot play in any competitions.

She said all students, not just athletes, who are doing poorly, must attend structured study halls, where students quietly work on their studies.

Student athletes at Ledyard High School not only must meet CIAC eligibility standards, but they also must achieve the school's 4.5 Quality Point Average, which is equivalent to a C-minus. Athletic Director James Buonocore said that policy has been in place since the mid-'90s.

A student who falls below the 4.5 QPA must attend structured study halls until he or she makes the grade, he said.

"We hold the kids to a higher standard," Buonocore said Tuesday. "They work hard at making sure they're eligible to participate in sports. Sports is a privilege and an opportunity to represent your school and your community, and our kids work hard at that and for the most part, go above and beyond that."

Athletes at New London High must meet the CIAC rules to be eligible for competition, but under the proposed policy, students also would have to maintain a 2.26 grade point average. Below that average, depending on individual GPAs, a student would be required to attend academic support sessions of various levels: one-on-one tutoring, small-group tutoring and/or mandatory group study sessions three times a week.

"They have to go to their tutor, attend their classes, do their work and can't be a behavior issue," Athletic Director Jeff Larson said. "If they're doing what they're supposed to do in class and they're working hard, they'll be able to practice and play. If they're not doing those things, that's when things like practice and being able to play will start being taken away from them."

If approved, the policy would go into effect this fall.

All Connecticut schools that compete interscholastically in varsity, junior varsity or freshman sports or sports clubs must abide by the CIAC rules, which require students to have passing grades in four, full-time Carnegie Units (classes) to be eligible to compete. A student who falls below the CIAC eligibility minimum is ineligible for competition until the next marking period.

Some school districts rely solely on the CIAC rules - Regional District 18 (Lyme-Old Lyme), Robert E. Fitch High School in Groton and Norwich Free Academy among them.

Gary Makowicki, director of athletics at NFA, said Tuesday that while there has been some talk about an additional grade-requirement policy, he has resisted it.

"Participation on athletic teams is a very valuable experience. There are a lot of things being learned in our athletic classrooms that you just can't duplicate in an academic setting," he said. "Why look for additional ways to take away those opportunities for students?"

Members of the New London school board policy committee are expected to vote on the proposed policy at their committee's next meeting and then send it to the full board for final approval.

j.hanckel@theday.com

Staff writer Izaskun Larrañeta contributed to this report.